JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) — A shooting at the Carver Housing Community injured two people around 3 a.m. on May 4. At a briefing Wednesday afternoon, city leaders confirmed the event marked the sixth shooting in Johnson City in the last three weeks.
Police have not identified suspect(s) in any of the six incidents.
According to a news release from the Johnson City Police Department (JCPD), officers arrived at the 500 block of Washington Avenue to find two people with gunshot wounds. The injuries are not life-threatening, the release stated.
“One victim received an injury to his leg; he was treated and released,” Johnson City Police Chief Karl Turner said at the 1 p.m. briefing. “A second victim received a gunshot injury to his shoulder and hand, and he’s being treated at the hospital.”
The circumstances surrounding what led to the shooting remain unclear, and Turner did not reveal whether investigators believe the incidents are related.
“While we’re comfortable with some of the leads that we have received in this case as well as the other cases, and we’re encouraged by those leads, our criminal investigations division is seeking assistance from the public,” he said. “Anyone who has information about the case that happened last night or any of the cases that happened in April — we ask that you pass on that information.”
Community members can call in tips at 423-434-6166. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 423-434-6158 or text “423JCPD” and the tip to 847411 (TIP411).
The investigation remains in its early stages, and no further details have been released.
A series of shootings in Johnson City
According to police, the six shootings began with an incident at Monarch Apartments on April 16 that left one person injured. The victim told police he had been shot in the vehicle, and responders found him with two gunshot wounds that were not life-threatening.
Johnson City police on April 19 responded to three shooting incidents in the early-morning hours. The series of shootings began at 1:25 a.m. when officers found that two suspects had fired several rounds into a home on the 900 block of Pardee Street.
Later that morning before 5 a.m., officers responded to a second shots-fired call at the West Unaka Avenue and North Roan intersection. Investigators revealed a person had gotten out of a white sedan and shot at a gray Honda Accord on West Unaka before fleeing on North Roan.
A third shots-fired call arrived only an hour later from the Legion Street and King Springs Road area, where police found an abandoned gray Honda Accord — matching the description of a vehicle involved in the second incident — with “several bullet holes in it.”
Almost two weeks later, on April 30, Johnson City officers responded to a shooting on Spring Street at 1 a.m. that left two people injured. Witnesses at the scene described the shooter as a 6’1-3″ Black man wearing black clothing.
News Channel 11 later learned that in addition to the two people injured in the Spring Street shooting, the incident also damaged six vehicles and an area business.
